Alex eReader by Spring Design, Inc.
Alex eReader, runs Android and has eInk and LCD display
With all the new E-Book readers out there and the popularity of the Amazon’s Kindle I finally decided I would check this out. The Alex Duet Navigator DSB-10 E-Book reader by Spring Design, Inc.
Features
600MHz Marvell CPU
6″ E-Ink Display
3″ Color LCD Touchscreen
Android 1.5
2Gb Internal Memory
MicroSD card slot in back (2Gb Card Included)
Microphone in Front
2.5mm Headphone jack on top (not a regular 3.5mm jack like most headphones)
Includes 2.5mm headphones with microphone
Includes Neoprene sleeve
Screen syncing button to push display to and from the E-Ink and LCD ( button is in between the two screens)
Left side buttons for previous page and back
Right side buttons for next page and power
Supported Formats:
Adobe DRM pdf
Adobe e-pub
epub
PDF
What I like:
I love the fact that it runs Android, mainly because Android is Linux based and as such is a pretty open platform. Add in that Android apps are written in the Java Programming Language means that lots of people can create new apps for it.
I found the ability to push what you see from one screen to the other with the sync button an awesome feature, particularly in helping mitigate some shortcomings (see below).
The Alex feels fairly solid, although I have noticed that occasionally when pressing on the bezel around the e-Ink display there is a little give and you can hear the bezel flex.
So far it has been able to connect to all the wireless access points available to me without issue, including 802.11b and 802.11g with various security methods including WEP, WPA, and WPA2.
The ability to add other Android applications, Pandora Internet Radio for instance is also very nice.
The original unit that I received was not fully updated and did not include all the software that it should have. The Adobe DRM was broken and while it was still a cool device I really wanted it so that I could checkout e-books from my local library. Why is this in the I like area, well, because it meant I contacted customer support. Rusty and Michelle at Spring Design were great. Rusty diagnosed my problem ( unit shipped with incorrect firmware ) quickly and got me in contact with Michelle to get a prepaid shipper to send the unit back. It was late on Friday and I really didn’t expect much to happen (though Rusty did say that if I got it in the mail and he got it Saturday that he would fix it and send it right back). They did exactly that and I had my unit back early on Tuesday.
What I don’t like:
First and foremost is the font size and layout when viewing PDF’s. I don’t know for sure if this is the fault of the Alex or Adobe but the default text size starts out at Tiny and if you put it up to Normal then you won’t see the entire page and unlike e-pub’s, when you press the next page button it just goes to the next page and skips over any text that wasn’t visible. This was particularly frustrating since it took me a couple of pages before I noticed that the last sentence and a half of the page was not visible.
DRM, it’s nice that the Alex supports the Adobe DRM but DRM is just plain frustrating to deal with.
Overall
I find myself using it more as an android device then a e-reader but I have found it to be very useful and has just about replaced my netbook for checking e-mail and simple web browsing. I have started reading a couple of epub formatted books and they seem to work well on the E-Ink and the text adjusts well. I was also really hoping that I would have Android 1.6 so that I could try out the Android Kindle app but so far I am still waiting for an update from 1.5.
